Why are we afraid of heights? | James May's Q&A (Ep 29) | Head Squeeze

James May figures out why we are so afraid of heights
Acrophobia linked to vertical perception: www.newscientist.com/article/d...
Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world: www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/
10 of the tallest buildings in the world: www.telegraph.co.uk/9284318/Gr...
The biggest jump in the world: • Felix Baumgartner's su...
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James May's Q&A: With his own unique spin, James May asks and answers the oddball questions we've all wondered about from 'What Exactly Is One Second?' to 'Is Invisibility Possible?'

[@shafwandito4724]

I'm not afraid of heights... i'm afraid someone will push me when i'm in the edge...

[@ZZ-bi3kt]

Push me to the edge, all my friends are dead

[@user-zw2ph2zs7r]

You have good reflexes? If you do than grab the guy that pushed you... At least you fall together

[@squeakybunny2776]

Do any of you recognize that like "urge" to push someone off. It's not like I really want to or that I ever would but sometimes it just feels like: I could do it

[@tommorgan7599]

Maybe start treating people better?

[@user-wb8wt9fd5h]

@@tommorgan7599 it doesn't matter how a person treats you its how you treat yourself

[@handsomespacegamer7026]

i'm not scared of heights. I'm just scared of the immediate stop.

[@boglenight1551]

+Smoke Fumus Actually if you fell through a hole that was designed to not feel the temperature of the core of the world, you would fall through but then stop and then start falling back through and then do the same thing again but the distances would get shorter, imagine a swing that isn't being provided with any force once it's pushed, it will keep going back and forth for shorter and shorter distances until it stops in the center, the same thing would happen to you.

[@PicturesqueGames]

Boglenight Sure m8, i know that. but i was talking about the case where gravity does not apply - just keep moving at the terminal velocity ignoring physical collisions.

[@boglenight1551]

Smoke Fumus If gravity didn't apply you wouldn't be falling. ;)

[@appletree8441]

Hey dickwad. You're mixing up the fear of heights with falling. There is a difference... Looking down is different than falling down. One is simply a possibility.whilst the others is. The sudden stop can not happen until you jump..or someone pushes you..

[@TheLionBoss47]

It’s impossible to be not scared of heights

[@FAON1886]

I'm only afraid of heights if my safety isn't reasonably guaranteed. Riding a 300ft tall roller coaster is fine, but rock climbing is a no go for me. Glass elevator is fine, but walking across a beam even if its only 4ft high makes me nervous.

[@thecommenter7001]

For me let’s take a theme park for example I go to this place called carowinds so there is this ride called Carolina sky tower but I’m fine with it because on that I am indoors and feel safe and secure but then there is this 325 ft roller coaster called fury 325 I don’t feel safe I can see how high I am and I feel the atmosphere of it and just knowing I’m about to be dropped at 320 feet no thanks

[@BLUEBEATLE001]

Glass elevator would freak me out

[@davehoward22]

Same,I hate ladders,hanging by a rope etc,can look over the side of a skyscraper all day as long as I'm not hanging off it.

[@hi-fidude6670]

planes feel normal to me but standing on the roof of a 50 meter tall buildning and looking down can feel quite scary

[@user-zw2ph2zs7r]

CaddyPro'59 maybe in planes there is always something to distract your attention so you don't get feared if youre at 20.000 feet, i think, because i never fly

[@ariewijaya1679]

because you only peek from narrow window opening instead full 360 degree from building roof. not counting stepping onto not solid roof ledge

[@cardinalinpain]

How can James May know the danger of driving at 90 I thought the fastest he went was 65

[@cuteshadow]

+noah grice Thats just a myth they tell us, James never even went 65, still there are some people with the conspiracy theory that he went over 420kph.

[@joshuaslocombe6087]

+cuteshadowKIA he did. IT WAS ON UKTV!

[@tiberiusjustinianroberts2863]

+Joshua Slocombe It was a conspiracy -_-. How can Captain Slow travel at such a tremendous speed? Completely impossible

[@joshuaslocombe6087]

Timothy Tsaur in a veyron SS.

[@tiberiusjustinianroberts2863]

Joshua Slocombe Dude is this necessary??? How dumb can you just get? It's so obvious that i'm going along with their joke unlike you. You simply don't know what being sarcastic and having a joke means

[@LoneWulff829]

I nearly fell off a balcony when I was 10, and steered an ATV off a cliff when I was 17. That pretty much ended heights for me. Now at the mall I can't even get near the edges of the second level without feeling my pulse increase. Just getting close to the glass makes me nervous.

[@cbayer5012]

Why am I afraid of heights now? I wasn't when I was younger...

[@MinZilla]

Cuz you think more rationally now

[@tommorgan7599]

You probably had one fall that reset your risk analysis. This is very common in young boys.

[@De_Rain52]

@@tommorgan7599Is It not common in young girls?

[@RamPianoCovers]

i am afraid of heights because i always think that I am gonna fall

[@ajgray2178]

My hands start sweating just watching videos of high heights

[@BBCEarthScience]

It really is quite special. Some men were born to wear them. James is one of those men.

[@theyetiturtle3382]

BBC Earth Lab lol

[@terminalfrost3645]

I absolutely hate ladders.. will not touch those things.

[@fedewar96]

+Marteen Lake That's why I have 12 guns and no ladders. -cit.

[@Cinefan1958]

Still the most intelligent man of the 3 Top Gear presenters. When Jeremy Clarkson says that James maybe boring him to tears, he is jealous of this man's sense of interesting facts and knowledge.

[@jeff935PS]

This is why you never see stairs... made of glass.

[@djvasforever]

I have seen, oh, and I have walked on them. Sensation maybe is a bit different, but not scary.

[@cursebr2937]

Because it is expensive and not feasible

[@83RockaRolla]

Yes, that was nice to hear that a fear of heights isn't entirely irrational. Previous to this I thought my (extreme) acrophobia only has to do with the incident when I fell off a swing when I was about 5 years old. Stupidly I studied art history, where I had to go up (and even worse down) several spiral staircases (in church spires and castles) and the so-called "Death Stairs" of a concentration camp (which I admittedly in the end crawled up on all fours).

[@kennethflorek8532]

I guess I must have acquired vertigo, and not a fear of heights. I never knew what vertigo was until about age 40, no matter the height. (When I was young, I toured the highest observation level of the Empire State building with no vertigo.) The first vertigo was a sudden shock. I believed I must be having a stroke. As I staggered I could hardly keep from falling, but the feeling vanished when I turned away from a second story window, and came back when the window came into my peripheral vision. I have never had vertigo if I were standing at a height lower than 10 feet. So no vertigo standing on the top of a 6 foot step ladder. If I look directly ahead at a height, the vertigo is reduced from seeing the height in my peripheral vision, and is tolerable. Vertigo does not increase looking down. I don't feel afraid, everything just looks like it is spinning, so I can't balance.

[@coreylarochelle6853]

James I think you're the most entertaining person ever the history of Technology keep it up

[@---vw9pl]

Can't even enjoy water parks , funfairs nothing like that

[@mrsmchistory]

I don't cope very well with heights yet it doesn't bother me when I'm flying. I feel as if I don't trust my balance when up high even if there's something to hold onto.

[@oliviarowhm9281]

I am deadly afraid of heights my body starts to tingle and I get rlly scared

[@gunman46100]

Just thought of something interesting. When some people come back down from a high place, they kiss the ground afterwards, but yet that same ground is technically the reason we fear hights to begin with, since the ground is what kills us. It actually doesn't make a lot of sense.

[@ernestochang1744]

James may is the only reason i watch headsqueeze

[@uprightgrandpianokid]

Dear James May, Every time I watch Head Squeeze, I am told by my mother (and occasionally, father) to "stop watching Top Gear".

[@DevilboyScooby]

Got dizzy in parts just watching this. So if a fear of heights is sensible, why is it still considered irrational?

[@libbybollinger5901]

Evolutionarily, it made you sensible, and sometimes it can be useful now, but in most cases, with an extreme fear of heights, the negatives outweigh the positives

[@Jaymac720]

Because people are mean Really though because it's relatively uncommon for a majority of people so it's not worth being afraid of

[@billsucks4441]

I feel a lot better when James May is talking to me

[@maxgroman4476]

I am absolutely scared of heights. I start hyperventilating and crying just thinking about going up high and I get really dizzy and my vision starts to black out.

[@maxpop39]

Been looking for this exact video

[@jhendren0001]

thanks May... liked and subscribed

[@Comrade2face]

im not afraid on planes or buildings but for some reason driving up a local mountain in a car i dont feel safe but i kinda like being scared it makes me feel alive

[@cubvon4400]

Thank you for explaining. Dint help as much as I was hopping. I started a job working on A/C most roofs are ok because they have a whole little room with a sturdy mounted ladder. If I need to set up a extension ladder or sometime climbing a mounted ladder on the side is very scary. Even now. I had an luxury way to a roof. A elevator and a door. But im on a 10 story roof and I'm shaking. Not even near the edge. Thinking of getting a my ild job back

[@gayleclanton3311]

Perfect hands, Perfect voice.....What else does James May have that's perfect?? #Yummmmmmmmy. 💞💞💫💫✨✨

[@jamesthurston9782]

I'm sure I got acrophobia, cause when I walk home from school and see that my house or school is at a high level or when I walk up a hill or any heights it makes me feel weird and automatically give me thoughts of me falling of buildings, or skydiving with a fantasy photographic picture in my head. I may have extreme acrophobia.

[@patriciaferrini8652]

Thank you for the explaination. Is the fear of falling to death.

[@74seva]

For some reason i get vertigo when i look up while on a tall structure. looking down is still frightening, but looking up makes my gut turn and gives me the sensation of spinning. not fun at all lol

[@TPBFrockS]

the first episode of the 20th season of TG was very nice!!!

[@surfinmuso37]

I have another theory. Maybe it's all about self trust or self control. We fear falling from great heights because we have all done it before.... in our dreams. We don't know why we jumped or fell in these dreams-but we remember the fear/feeling. Maybe on a sub-conscious level we don't entirely trust ourselves not to do it again in real life.

[@charlieacosta9671]

Great zombie jesus interesting theory

[@grahamdavies8924]

Great zombie jesus : That's not really any different from James's explanation. Our dreams are just rehearsals and reiterations of our evolutionary and individual experience to help us in our daily lives.

[@surfinmuso37]

That is just another theory on the purpose of dreams.

[@grahamdavies8924]

Great zombie jesus : Very true. What do you believe is the purpose of dreams?

[@surfinmuso37]

I do not know their purpose. There are many theories, but i can only speak of what i have experienced. There seems to be a practical purpose in lucid dreams, related to perfecting one's life on a spiritual level. When one practices a more spiritual waking life, lucid dreams are more common, so one effects the other-i have experienced this, briefly.

[@MrMiniMeister]

You should check out some of the other videos on Head Squeeze. They are just as interesting and entertaining.

[@GeorgeFarren]

Wow, the clarity is incredible! Although my frame rates suffer :P

[@thany3]

Awesome shirt, again.

[@halsoy]

@Vracktal that's easy. It's simply a matter of software. You tell software to key out (ignore) a specific pallet of color. The green screen can be any color you want, as long as it'sa color you don't want in the shot.

[@NichoTBE]

I'm not really afraid of heights but a weird thing happened to me when I watched a film Mission Impossible 4 a few years ago where the palms of my hands would not stop sweating from the stuff going on in that movie.

[@YeshuahisKingofKings]

vertigo is also a symptom of Meniere's Disease, a very debilitating symptom at that. I only know because I suffer from MD.

[@Ordovici]

I guess the tactile stimulation of my other senses and the inability to look down is what makes climbing a tree less scary for me than looking off a tall bridge.

[@YesYouAreAbsolutelyCorrect]

I quite easily can look down from any height, but if I'm standing near a high structure or there's a high ceiling, and I look up - that's when the shit hits the... ground, in this case.

[@rosssmith3072]

Hi James As one who overcame a significant fear of heights, your reasoning seems logical. However how do we know that it's not just like being afraid of the dark ? Overcoming those kinds of issues gives one a very significant feeling of satisfaction. Ross

[@mrtffatr]

I love James' shirt.

[@danielhagen3739]

I found this looking for his quote "I can't dumb it down to your level cause I'm scared of heights" when he was explaining the Fisker Karma to jeremy

[@wsc31]

Thank you for confirming that my fear of heights is sensible and not entirely irrational.

[@ChunkOfNorris]

I have a question for you sir May. How are heights and depths measured on other planets like Mars? On earth we measure above and below sea level, but what reference point is used on these other places?

[@nnarcus]

Awesome

[@debbiethemadbee]

As I said in the other video, please could James do one on anxiety and panic attacks thanks.

[@edqt]

Can't wait to see you in the LaFerrari!

[@ArborealOreo]

The structure of the connected carbon atoms in the diamond make it so that each carbon atom is in the most stable direction and distance away from the other carbon atom. Since it is so super-stabilized, it becomes so strong.

[@GeorgeFarren]

I would have said the hardness is more towards the structure of the carbon atoms, in the giant tetrahedral structure, than the covalent bonds. The covalent bonds more come in to play in heating. That is at least my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong. Hardness is an ambiguous term, since there are a plethora of definitions for that category. Such as toughness, hardness, strength (torsional, compressional) etc.

[@AmbiCahira]

I cant stand on a chair but being on a balcony is fine. Anything lower than a 2nd floor balcony sucks. I can walk on hanging bridges but I can't grab things from the top shelf in my home or change a lightbulb. Isn't that pretty twisted?

[@raulrojas665]

It happens to me either.I can be in a high balcony seeing the view but I can't approach or grab it from the top shelf lol

[@rookeva8688]

One of your ancestors probably fell while standing on a log lol

[@BenCrown123]

Epic Rap Battle Head Squeeze vs Vsauce

[@dudeonlygamingandotherstuf7791]

Skye hey Vsause Michael here

[@eduverse4789]

I feel going in circles when I look up but I'm not afraid of heights at all, can you explain

[@tkbwanfor8098]

When I went on oblivion in Alton towers I got cured of my fear of heights going down the free fall bit

[@poochieman1237]

I don't get vertigo, but I have problems looking out of windows in skyscrapers. Planes are worse (it stays for the duration of the flight, but is less intense). I don't think I could ever be an astronaut, but the pictures are amazing

[@politechjunky]

QUESTION: can you die from laughter or other extreme expression of emotions ie sadness, fear, happiness

[@nikolatotev]

I like it too. I think it's cool.

[@ajspice]

I sometimes get vertigo in large, enclosed spaces, and only if I'm at a higher level. So a sitting in the balcony at a rock concert in a large hall will make me dizzy.

[@Lemmywinks1989]

V good vid

[@wisecracker1294]

Explains my acrophobia. My ancestors came from very mountainous countries.

[@joonasvi]

1080p is the only way to appreciate the pattern in James' shirt

[@Rainaman-]

I have climbed cliffs, mountains, been in highest buildings, freefalled, ziplined, climbed trees, television towers at night etc. Yet I am stil scared of hights. Fear stays forever as it is instinct not learned behavior. As long as you dont look down you are fine.

[@calumkz]

That's interesting because I have a very good sense of balance (I can wheelie a bike forever & for a short distance while blindfolded) and I'm also not that afraid of heighs (I do a lot of rockclimbing)

[@RobynLtW]

I suffer from Vertigo, but it has nothing to do with fear of heights or heights at all. I could be sitting in a chair and out of the blue the room will start spinning and its quite uncomfortable, specially if it happens when I'm at the wheel. Quite dangerous. Thankfully, though, there is medication to keep it under control.

[@raulrojas665]

Simply people are not afraid of heights,people are afraid of hiting the ground.how nice it would be if we have the security of landing on our feet instead of a undoubted death by a certain knock.

[@mythbusterslover14]

I'm not afraid of the hit, i'm afraid of the fall. You never talked to a person who is Madrid of heigts have you?

[@CptAngelKGaming]

Not really. No matter what is below, it still is extremely scary.

[@KrzysztofKotarba]

that's very good question, I'm sure answer is - yes.

[@jamessteele6216]

I am terrified of abseiling but can jump of water falls when gorge walking ?

[@lanab1665]

I understand the instinctual aspect of the fear of heights. However, I am quite terrified of spiders, which is a perfectly rational fear, except that I'm not bothered by the fact that they're poisonous (I like snakes). It's purely the way they look and the way they move, it just creeps me out.

[@debbiethemadbee]

I used to get it at angles, especially angled tunnels but my brain seems to have eventually become used to it. I even would get it at times with some pictures. I remember playing a game once on my computer and having to quit because it was giving me bad vertigo. Panic attacks are also horrible with similar sensations, which is what James sounds like he gets. Just wondering is it vertigo as to what causes travel sickness?

[@ghostdog2041]

When I go take the stairs up to the fourth floor at work, my feet get tingly, like I'm using a heightened sense to tell of the stairs are going to collapse.

[@gyinagal]

I like the way he says "input."

[@kd1s]

I'm a ham (amateur radio) and I can tell you I've been in plenty of high places. It's kind of interesting - every time we go up high the old joke goes out, "Hey I can see my house from here." but in one case it was true.

[@debbiethemadbee]

I've had vertigo walking in past stationary cars before. I also get it sometimes when I walk past a parked vehicle that starts to move as I walk. Then there are trains too such as another train moving and you feel like it's the one you're on moving. Or when you go one way and your brain thinks you're going in the opposite direction or you think you're moving when you're stationary, usually when it's dark outside.

[@DannyShaubolo]

I get vertigo when i go to the seaside, something about the waves?

[@darezzi97]

Hey James! I have a question. Can we talk about cloning?

[@DiZh0]

thats the thing for some people, when do you know you cant fall? Like the glass sructure over a cliff. The structure is safe but some might not think its safe. So basicly you come to another relative point to a person. What do you call safe.

[@debbiethemadbee]

Also one more on phobias in general

[@jonathonedwards6741]

Here is one for the great James. Why am I afraid of hieghts but am not afraid to look out the window on an airplane traveling at cruizing altitude?

[@JordanAP96]

Does anyone else only watch the Head Squeeze videos with James in them?

[@DannyShaubolo]

And i'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end!

[@slavaukraini9825]

Thanks so much this helped so much, also All humanity can fit into a smalle Island so Why make Høgh buildings

[@bmacadody9447]

I get disorientated looking up and looking down at great heights unless i am wearing a harness then all tunnel vision gone. so it dose have a lot to do with our scene of safety.

[@jaxxie]

I hate the glass elevator trend, going down is torture.

[@debbiethemadbee]

I have seen one or two documentaries about that. I think possibly it was a Prof Robert Winston documentary

[@dailyflash]

I'm ok with flying and glass elevators, but did not enjoy hiking down the grand canyon and I DO NOT LIKE looking over railings or walls of high buildings. Very uncool. It's the edges that get me.

[@ludatrades]

That shirt in 1080p I must say is quite eye catching.

[@boffinboy100]

I'm scarred of heights if I'm on tall buildings (only managed the 1st floor of the eifel tower, yet coped with the top floor of the montparnasse), or when it comes to tall climbing walls etc, but not if I am on a mountain skiing or even on a plane at heights much greater than buildings - is there a scientific explanation for that?

[@NeogreenPeaches]

You should explain digital logic and how it relates to everyday life.

[@SlykeThePhoxenix]

I have a chronic fear of heights and get dizzy even something as high as my house roof. Yet I'm still happy to stupidly go climb across cliff edges 100s of meters high with no support because I love the rush.

[@1895Yeo]

What is water injection in combustion engines and how does it work?

[@CreedBrattonTheOffice]

Stability. Ladders are unstable and wobbly and you feel as though you will fall whereas a plane it's generally smooth (apart from turbulence obviously) but and your not the one doing the moving, the plane is doing that for you so you feel better as you're sitting. I have same sort of fear. I HATE ladders.

[@IstasPumaNevada]

I can look down from heights pretty fine, and I can look up at high things. I cannot look up at high things while I myself am high up near a ledge, say on stairs or a ladder.

[@suniltiwari3950]

Where you study James may

[@Axxarus]

Well personally, I'm not that afraid of heights, but when jumping into water from a large height I do become afraid but it's because I feel I might jump off incorrectly or slip and hit the ground, or there will be sharp rocks at the bottom of the water, when it comes to heights and jumping off them I always speculate.

[@miguelpoky2]

I didn't know James may was doing this KZbin channel, I thought his life was Top Gear, cars, reviewing cars, reading car magazines ETC.

[@TrainSpottyMUSIC]

Unfortunately original top gear is no more.

[@dudeonlygamingandotherstuf7791]

miguelpoky2 and Dacia

[@user-zw2ph2zs7r]

The dacia sandero! James may: "AAWWWWHHHH YYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!"

[@jullikka777]

sunlight reflects from the ocean (which is blue) back to the sky and creates the impression that the sky is blue

[@scaranta]

Why are we not scared of heights when in an aeroplane then?

[@lukemontgomery1774]

Maybe because we can't really comprehend how high up we are.

[@vinnietrimmer7175]

Some people do.

[@thegreatafrican3367]

Because you cant fall out of the airplane

[@ThingyMcJiggy]

I am.

[@neuzdost1939]

Because you have a feeling of security being closed inside. Its the same with the car. You dont care driving 100 mph on the driveway but if you even imagine doing that speed on the bike, your heartbeat will rise. Its all in your head. If that plane would be made out of glass for you to see everything around it you wont feel so good about it as you are in normal plane